2016 USA Presidential election thread II: And. Here. We. Go!

[Andalusian girls]

[chazzyphizzle]

there you go again, givin a fuck about reformed white supremacists when it aint yo turn

[Gredival]

this is nonsense. the Second Klan did introduce healthy doses of antisemitism and anticommunism and anti-Catholicism and anti-immigrationionism, a generalized notion of keeping America pure, but they were as focused on white supremacy and the subjugation of blacks as ever, particularly in their southern chapters where segregation was increasingly coming under outside scrutiny. their literature and speechifying continued to expound upon the glory of the great white race and the inferiority of the negro, of the need to defend white womanhood from the rapacious African phallus, and their vigilante justice of terror bombings and lynchings and the like continued to almost exclusively target black men.

a quote from Byrd during his time in the imagined softer Klan



he was a prodigiously racist leader of a prodigiously racist organization and it does no good to attempt to soft-sell his sins. his journey is great and his redemption profound only because he began in the blackest of hells and struggled toward the light with great labor.

By no means am I a historian, much less one with a specialty in 20th century American history, but the Second Klan had a 6M+ membership which was about 15% of the eligible population. That prominence, compared to the other iterations, had a lot to with with its more populist bent. I'm sure in the South where a bunch of the new Klansmen were recruited from the remains of the first incarnation that there was a lot of white supremacy. But the new Protestant membership was brought into the fold on generic anti-immigrant agendas (an interesting parallel to consider given this particular election), which manifested mostly as anti-Semitism & anti-Catholicism.

Of course it seems Byrd himself was definitely part of the Southern anti-black wing.

[Mrbeansman]

If you want things to change then getting a supreme court that will overturn Citizens United is all that matters now.

[Marootsoobutsu]

By no means am I a historian, much less one with a specialty in 20th century American history, but the Second Klan had a 6M+ membership which was about 15% of the eligible population. That prominence, compared to the other iterations, had a lot to with with its more populist bent. I'm sure in the South where a bunch of the new Klansmen were recruited from the remains of the first incarnation that there was a lot of white supremacy. But the new Protestant membership was brought into the fold on generic anti-immigrant agendas (an interesting parallel to consider given this particular election), which manifested mostly as anti-Semitism & anti-Catholicism.

Of course it seems Byrd himself was definitely part of the Southern anti-black wing.

A lot of what the Klan was recruiting on was stuff like better health care, better infrastructure (particularly in poor white areas), anti-organized labor, prohibition, and things that had a very broad appeal in middle-class America. And the Klan definitely recruited in a lot of all-white areas where racism against blacks wasn't a big thing, not because they weren't racist, but because they weren't in a position to display their racism.

The Klan itself still practiced very strong terrorist actions in the Deep South. In major cities (Detroit, Indianapolis, and Chicago especially), the Klan used deliberate rezoning and political and legal pressure to force segregation from whites... not quite so much in the form of things like the Greenwood Riots, but constant, extreme pressure to make sure blacks knew their place.

Marxist historians (ie-- class-based interpretations of history) tend to put the Klan in a more favorable light than either elitist or individualist-based historians do, in part because the Klan as a broad whole in the 20s-40s wasn't all about the cross-burning-lynchings of the later Klan and early Klan, but I really find that that tends to be too willful toward the class-based-conflict. White folks in the North gave the Southern Klan legitimacy and power. They gave the Klan legal standing, even into a Supreme Court Justice (though he later claimed he left the Klan before he was appointed). The Northerners pushed the Klan into even bipartisan influence, which really enabled a lot of the continuation of Jim Crow in the South when blacks had started to make *some* headway against it.

Essentially, the 20s-40s Klan was the smartest iteration of it that they've had, and though the first iteration *definitely* was the most harmful to black prosperity in America, the second was, I think, the most insidious, because it made people think that the racism-thing wasn't a big deal. It undid more than 40 years of efforts by legitimate non-racists to help bring about racial equality (or something closer, at least).

[archibaldcrane]

https://medium.com/@wilw/that-clinto...324#.klidssg9j

Wil Wheaton lays out exactly how ridiculous the media hard-on for Hillary is.

[Gryffes]

[Olo401]

In light of Phyllis Schlafly's death, Hillary should immediately push hard for re-passage & ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

[Blubbartron]

In light of Phyllis Schlafly's death, Hillary should immediately push hard for re-passage & ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Sounds exactly like something Hillary would waste her time with. Ultimately meaningless, but it makes you feel good about yourself.

[Olo401]

Sounds exactly like something Hillary would waste her time with. Ultimately meaningless, but it makes you feel good about yourself.

I think not. Something so bold would hopefully break thru the corporate media wall that's been pushing nothing but T and the various garbage non-scandals, especially if she uses strong language.

[archibaldcrane]

New CNN poll has Trump+2. Survey monkey dropped a ton of state polls, including having Hilldog tied in Texas, but while losing Ohio.

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/...tion-forecast/

[Zealot]

Every time I check fivethirtyeight Donald Trump's chance of victory has increased, and there's still a lot of time between now and November.

[Gryffes]

Every time I check fivethirtyeight Donald Trump's chance of victory has increased, and there's still a lot of time between now and November.

He was over 50% the week of the republican convention, then had a massive falloff afterwards.

[Sho]

I think it'll split 50/50 for sure.

[Krandor]

Trump has been acting relatively sane (by his standards) for the last few weeks, Hillary's strategy of just keeping her head down won't keep working if that holds.

Of course when she does show back up she breaks out into coughing fits and can't open a bottle of water, which just instantly feeds right back into the health narrative.

[Tyrath]

We'll have to see how sane he acts for the debates

[Sho]

The very first debate should be a telling of who will get elected, actually.

[Galkaeater]

"When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people."

Then you are saying every Mexican in America has problems with drugs, rape, and crime. That is racist, and you are completely ignorant if you think otherwise.

Did he say every mexican though?

Anyway the funny thing about this is the mexican elites probably agree with trump (in private) which is why they must oppose trump's wall since that would block up a Relief valve that would otherwise stop mexico from heating up into a revolution.
Trump being the deal master or something sees that the current arrangement is almost a one way deal in mexico's favour so proposes a new deal involving a wall with a 'big beautiful door' so he can let in all the 'good people' and none of the chaff.
of course having a border is RAYCIS so lets not have one

[Tyrath]

I mean even beyond the racist shit, the wall he is proposing is ridiculous and expensive and completely unnecessary for a multitude of other reasons.

[Zealot]

You could take every bit of racist sentiment out of Trump's rhetoric and his social and economic proposals would still be terrible ideas.